Clarence E. Tye

Clarence E. Tye was born on March 25, 1929 in Greeley, Colorado to Jay and Dora Tye. Clarence passed away at the age of 81 on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 after a long hard fight with cancer. Clarence attended Greeley schools and graduated from Greeley High in 1947. He attended college at CSU and UNC until entering the US Air Force in Jan of 1951. He was stationed overseas in England and was discharged at Travis AFB California as a staff sergeant in 1954. At that time, he entered back into college and pursued a degree in education. During his last 2 years of college, he had a part time job at California State Legislature, guiding student tours through the state capitol in Sacramento. Upon graduation from college, he accepted a teaching position in Napa Valley School District. He retired in 1986. During his teaching years, he coached high school baseball and was blessed with some great players that went on to the minor and major leagues, including Craig Landis who was drafted 1st round in the 1977 draft and Bill Buckner who was drafted in the 2nd round in the 1968 draft by the LA Dodgers. Many of his players went on to have great successful careers. Clarence is remembered as a teacher and coach who really cared for his students and players. During Clarence’s coaching career, he was selected by the California High School Baseball Coaches Association to coach 2 all star teams, one in 1977 and the other in 1986, playing the Oklahoma All Star Baseball Team. Upon retiring from teaching, he elected to pursue his hobby of cutting horses and moved to Colorado where he and his wife purchased their ranch in Gill, Colorado. He spent the next 22 years in the cutting horse business. During that period, he served 2 years as president of the Western States Cutting Horse Association and was inducted into the Western Cutting Horse Hall of Fame in 2009. Clarence is survived by his loving wife, Judy and his 3 children, Eric Tye of Napa, California, Rhonda Roberts of Rocklin, California, and Kurt Tye of Reno, Nevada. He has 5 step-children, Ken McKinney of Maui, Hawaii, Dana Wood of Oceanside, California, Dawn McKinney of Loveland, Colorado , Ember McKinney of Oceanside, California and Kacy McKinney of Wisconsin. Clarence and Judy have a combined total of 11 grandchildren and also included in survivors are two very special families: The Phil Rapp family of Weatherford, Texas and the Jarrett McGraw family of Gill, Colorado. He was preceded in death by his parents. A Celebration of Life will be held 12:00 p.m. Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the Clarion Hotel, 701 8th Street in Greeley. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Northern Colorado in care of Allnutt Funeral Service, 702 13th Street, Greeley, CO 80631.